I am not about to list the contents of all of these discs because they cover eleven pages of the insert notes while the essay about him by Raymond Holden is only five. All of these discs have been previously released on individual EMI discs including the Symphony of the Air recordings. About the only exception is that for some reason EMI didn't include the Rachmaninoff Symphony #3 (certainly one of the finest recordings Stokowski ever made) and the material taken from Pye Records. If you already have those discs then this set may be an unnecessary duplication since I note no difference in the sound. This is too bad because listening to the improvements Cala did with the Symphony of the Air recordings proves that they aren't as bass deficient as heard on the original LPs and these CDs. On the other hand I have two reasons to purchase the set.

First, as a gift. I sent a set to my son as a Winter Solstice gift this year (2009). He is going to hear one of the finest Carmina Burana recordings and the finest Shostakovich 11ths ever. He will also have an excellent selection of Bach transcriptions and Aram Khachaturian's Symphony #2 "The Bell".

Second, the contents of the set have been, in most cases, differently coupled. For example, disc two: Bartók's Music for Strings Percussion & Celesta, Ibert's Escales, Martin's Petite Symphonie concertante, Farberman's Evolution – Part one and finally Persichetti's Divertimento for band. What a pleasant evening's music this offers in sound that is consistently fine despite different recording dates. Shostakovich's 11th Symphony The Year 1905 is now appropriately coupled with Barber's Adagio in the finest recording of the piece ever made. So, there is some reason to add this to your collection.